Basis needs in danger

Tanzania's success in satisfying the basic needs of its popu lation demonstrates that some of the worst features of poverty can be eradicated at quite low income levels, within a short period of time, by appropriate selective policy measur es. This progress, however, is jeopardised by a severe eco nomic and financial crisis that the country has been facing since the late 1970s. The crisis is the result of various external and domestic factors: decline in agricultural exports, widening deficit in the balance of payments, decline in industrial production, and growing inflation.

The Report addresses the question how can Tanzania's achievements in the social and economic sphere be safe guarded while the necessary adjustments to the crisis are made. It outlines both short and long-term policy measures to pull the country out of its current problems and put it back on the path of equitable development.